Establishment
The ISHG was the brainchild of Dr David Barton, Dr Nollaig Parfrey, and Dr Paula Byrne. All three attended the 1997 ESHG in Genoa. In the evenings they used to meet up in a local hostelry, ‘I tre merli’ (‘The three Blackbirds’) to discuss the days lectures and one evening they decided what Ireland needed was its own Human Genetics Society and the Irish Society of Human Genetics was born.
The first president of the Irish Society of Human Genetics was Prof Pete Humphries.
Past Presidents
All presidents of the ISHG have volunteered their time and expertise to the Socety. They would all have previously acted as chairperson (‘secretary’ prior to 2021) for a period of 3 years, organising the running of the society and the annual ISHG conference, with the backing of the members of the committee (‘council’ prior to 2021):
1998-1999 Peter Humphries
1999-2000 Nollaig Parfrey
2000-2002 Andrew Green
2002-2003 David Barton
2003-2005 David Croke
2005-2007 Dan Bradley
2007-2009 Denis Shields
2009-2011 Dr Colette Hand
2011-2013 Dr Anne Parle McDermott
2013-2016 Dr Derek Morris
2016-2019 Ms Johanna Kelly
2019-2022 Prof Gianpierro Cavaleri